Three different men all on different walks of life come together for one purpose, to steal their way to endless supplies of money. But the journey isn't so clean cut. Backs will be stabbed, knives will be twisted, and soulless, plastic shells pretending to be humans will be beaten for petty cash.

Recommended Age

Minimum Age

Available On...

18+

16

PS3, Xbox 360

Overall Fun

Length

Frustration

Violence

Sexuality

Substances

Gambling

9

10

2

8

10

5

0

Mods

Religion

Anti-Law

Community

Sports

Magic

Miscellaneous

0

2

10

0

4

0

8

1. Gameplay

Overall Fun - 9

Grand Theft Auto has been a mixed bag for me of late. I love the open world nature and there is always a ton to do in these games, but Rockstar’s insistence on keeping the GTA series along a more realistic path started to wear on me. I was bored by most of GTA IV, so I wasn’t really sure how GTA V would turn out. Fortunately, while this game isn’t perfect, it is a vast improvement from its predecessors.

Oh god, zombie!

My favorite part was the designer’s decision to allow the player a bit of choice in how to approach the big missions. The player is tasked with pulling off a few major heists. He can approach these heists in different ways. Usually it boils down to “smart” or “loud”. The loud way will involve lots of gunfire and attention, but players who feel stronger in combat and who want more money might prefer this method. Players who prefer to play things safe will take the “smart” route. There’s plenty of excitement no matter which route the player takes.

Gas masks? Definitely playing it safe.

There’s a ton to do in this world. It feels smaller than San Andreas, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I don’t have to spend hours driving across open territory or trying to find a helicopter so I can fly directly to where I want to go. Instead, most of the missions are located within the city of Los Santos. There’s still plenty for players of all types to complete, but it’s a bit easier to manage.

My biggest issue with this game wasn’t in the presentation or the worldspace, it was simply in the fact that there wasn’t really any character that I wanted to win. Each of the three main characters were bad guys, just of different shades. Michael is a middle-aged upper class man with a trainwreck of a family and a serious anger issue. Franklin is a street-bred punk who participates in auto loan fraud. Trevor is a full on murderous drug dealing psychopath who kills entire families just to eliminate potential competition. By the end of the game I didn’t want any of these guys to win, but felt compelled to help them because of how many hours of time I had invested into molding them into the characters that I wanted them to be.

Don't be that guy.

Grand Theft Auto will never be the game series that gives me a truly good character, but I was hoping that we’d see more of the CJ type “clean up the streets from drugs” characters rather than the Trevor type “kill everyone just for the fun of it”. Oh well, maybe next time.

Length - 10

It took me around 30 hours to complete the main campaign. There were still plenty of side missions and random encounters to complete. Completing 100% of the game would likely take well over 50 hours for the average player, and even upon completion there is still plenty to do.

There are plenty of easter eggs, mini-missions, and activities in which the player can participate. Almost every mission has a specific set of challenges that the player can complete in order to earn “gold” on the mission. Each heist mission has two different possible approaches with different submissions associated with each path. And the game has three different endings. There is plenty here for the player to do.

Frustration Factor - 2

This game doesn’t have a difficulty level. Each mission can be completed with ease and there are plenty of checkpoints every time. There was only one mission where I had to tail someone to a location (one of the biggest issues with GTA IV was how many missions of this type were included). Overall this game was fun, simple, and easy to progress through.

2. Parental Notices

Violence - 8

With a few exceptions, violence is predictable and fairly mild. The player can shoot enemies with an arsenal of different weapons. Almost all of these weapons will do the exact same thing. Blood will puff from a wound but quickly disappear. Sometimes blood will appear on nearby floors or walls, but bodies will disappear almost as quickly as the blood.

Get out of my house!

Explosions will not cause any blood or gore. Usually the enemy caught in an explosion will either fly away or simply disappear. Similarly, hitting an enemy or a civilian with a car will cause them to ragdoll and hit the ground. If the player hits someone hard enough, blood will sometimes appear on the road or on the vehicle.

I really have to change those rims.

The above accounts for almost of the violence the player will see, but there are some exceptions. For example, in one cutscene the player watches as a person is shot in the head from close range. The shot causes the character’s head to explode into chunks, exposing the brain for a split second.

You see this for 2/3rds of a second. It's the only time anything of this level is included.

In another scene, a person is sucked up into a whirring jet engine and ground into a bloody mess.

Someone get the mop. Again.

A different mission has some slightly similar elements. The player has to save Michael from the hands of a very angry Triad. Along the way, enemies will fall into vats of acid or meat grinders. Only blood is shown from these “executions”.

Is that how sausages are made?

The most violent part of the game by far though is the interrogation scene. In it, the player must actively interrogate a character for information. The player can use four different types of tools. The most violent are using a giant wrench to break the character’s knees and using jumper cables attached to the character’s nipples to electrocute him.

Just tell us what you know. PLEASE.

I really had trouble making it through this scene. I didn't want to interrogate the guy, and I'm sure someone could have come up with some nicer method of extracting the information this guy allegedly had. The mission was designed to highlight the brutality and lack of humanity of the corrupt FBI men, but it did more to highlight the apathy of the main characters towards evil. I wasn't a fan of that.

Just put his tooth back. No one has to know.

However, despite the sometimes significant amount of violence that takes place in missions, these periods of mass murder and mayhem will be broken up by huge amounts of time spent engaging in travel or nonviolent activities. While very few missions are completed without engaging in some sort of violence, the vast majority of the player’s time will be spent cruising around the city, upgrading cars, playing tennis, racing, or performing other equally mundane tasks. The amount of violence the player sees outside of missions is entirely up to them. The game gives the player the freedom to drive along sidewalks mowing down random pedestrians but doesn’t ever require it.

Sexuality - 10

Aside from anti-law, sexuality is the most significant factor in this game. For a series that was publicly lambasted for including the “hot coffee mod”, I was surprised that no one says a word about all of the sexuality included in this game. Is it because the hot coffee mod was an interactive minigame? But it was cut from the original content and only available to PC players who downloaded a particular patch. I don’t understand it.

Sex in very obvious forms comes throughout the game. Some of these comes in the form of in game cutscenes that the player will be forced to watch. For others, the player will have the choice whether to engage in them. There is one scene that the player must see that involves one of the main characters, Trevor, having sex with another random character’s girlfriend as payment for methamphetamines.

Well this is awkward.

There is a side mission that involves the player taking on the role of a paparazzi and filming a young Hollywood starlet having sex. After the player is caught filming the woman, the starlet and the police chase the player.

Those glasses look ridiculous.

Another mission involves Michael’s daughter auditioning for a reality show called “Fame or Shame”. Her audition is a sort of strip tease where she takes off her panties and begins grinding on the Ryan Seacrest analog. The audition ends when Michael and Trevor burst in and break it up.

Shame. Shaaaaaaaame.

The prostitutes also reappear in this game. The mechanics of the previous GTA are included again, so the player can pay different amounts depending on what service he wants. Depending on how much money the player gives, the prostitute will either have sex or perform oral sex on the main character.

That doesn't look comfortable.

The player can also go into strip clubs and watch girls dance. There is some nudity involved in these performances since most of the women will be topless. The player can request a private dance with the girls for a certain amount of money, which initiates a minigame. The game involves the player touching the stripper while avoiding being caught by the bouncers. Touching the girl gets her to like him more, which can give the player the option of a “double dance”, where two girls perform for the player, or inviting the girl back to her house for sex.

Hail to the king, baby.

Only half of the girls will agree to the second option. When this happens, the player will drive them back to her place. To my surprise, the game simply had them go into her apartment or house (some of which were much nicer than what a stripper should be able to afford). There is some brief audio but then it fades to black. The girl sends the player a sexy text message afterward, but unlike GTA IV there is little else the player can do with them. The idea of a relationship is never developed in this game.

Briefly going back to the strip club minigame, there is one serious “flaw” in the game. Instead of focusing on the girls, the player tends to want to focus more on the area where the bouncer is or should be. The fear of getting caught and failing the game will usually override any desire to touch the girls or watch the pixilated exposed breasts. Aside from the fact that this minigame is completely pointless unless the player wants to get off (it doesn’t lead to any benefits for the characters), it’s further rendered moot by its own mechanics. This is negated once Trevor owns the strip club, since after that none of the three main characters can ever be thrown out for touching the girls.

Ignore the tits, watch the bouncer.

A few of the missions will involve Michael’s wife’s infidelity. She has affairs with her tennis instructor and possibly has an affair with her yoga instructor (who she runs off with after Michael beats him up). There are a few cutscenes that don’t directly involve sex but can be extremely awkward.

Yeah that guy is getting punched.

One of the random scenes that can play when the player takes control of Michael involves him walking in on his wife while she is masturbating. She screams in surprise, throws the toy across the room, and then rolls over and goes to sleep.

Substances - 5

Substances do play a factor in this game, particularly when Trevor is involved. Trevor runs a “company” called Trevor Phillips Incorporated that is basically a hub for trade in illegal guns and narcotics. Part of his business involves his own meth lab. While the player never actually sees anyone making meth, a few of the missions will take place in and around the lab.

If you shoot him, this whole place will explode. Seriously.

While none of the characters will actually use methamphetamines, drug use does occur a couple of times in the game. There is one mission where a few of the characters go to Grove Street to buy a kilo of cocaine. After tasting the cocaine, one of the characters gets suspicious and checks the other side of the brick, discovering that only a small portion of the kilo was actually included in the brick.

They're going to regret this.

In another mission, Michael drives his son to a fast food location to pick up some unspecified drugs. After picking up the drugs, the son drugs Michael while they’re driving. The player ends up weaving dangerously throughout traffic until passing out in the middle of the road.

And then this happens.

One random character can be encountered by all three main characters. This man is campaigning for the legalization of marijuana. After introducing himself and giving his speech, he invites the main character to take a hit from a joint. The main character does. Evidently the substance his highly hallucinogenic, because two of the three characters start having an extremely violent trip. The third character doesn’t have any reaction and finds the “pot” to be dry.

Whatever happened to "Just Say No"?

Michael, one of the main characters, can take a hit from his son’s bong. This will get him temporarily high, but there are no lasting effects.

Don't touch that! Who knows where your son has been?

One of the characters can also buy a medicinal marijuana distribution store. The store clearly has pot paraphernalia and occasionally Franklin will be seen leaving the store with a bottle of pot in hand. However, aside from a few random missions after the player owns the store, it isn’t involved much in the game.

This is basically what Venice Beach is like. No joke.

There are a few cutscenes and occasions when the player can see drinking and smoking cigars or cigarettes, but these are few and far between. Their rarity makes them easy to miss, especially in the other content present in the game.

Gambling - 0

The stock market is the only thing in this game that even resembles gambling. While I personally consider the stock market and gambling to be one and the same, legally there are distinct differences. As a result, gambling is not a factor in this game.

3. Other Factors

Mods - 0

There are currently no modding tools available for this game. Once a PC version is released, this category may change.

Religion - 2

There are some churches present in the environment. However, the only real form of religion present in the game is when the player watches a funeral take place. A priest officiates the funeral and says some mostly non-religious words about the “deceased”.

There are cultists in the game whose religion is modeled after Scientology. However, interaction with these people seems to be minimal.

Anti-Law - 10

Almost every single mission in this game, with rare exceptions, will involve some element of anti-law. Whether it’s dealing drugs, engaging in shootouts with gangsters or cops, engaging in illegal street races, or performing heists for crazy amounts of money, the player will perform many missions that will go against what would be legally acceptable.

This is highlighted perfectly in the first mission where the player engages in a huge heist that goes wrong. He has to shoot his way through dozens of police officers in order to escape. It sets the tone for the entire game afterward and clearly establishes the anti-law nature of two of the three main characters.

Why am I supposed to like these guys?

The biggest missions the player will engage in will be the “heist” missions. These will involve stealing valuable items from certain high profile locations. The player will always get to choose whether to choose a quieter, safer route or to go loud and engage in lots of combat. Two of these heists will involve stealing things from the government.

Not sure if this was the "loud" option...

The player will have regular interaction with corrupt government. The corrupt nature of law enforcement was always a recurring theme in the GTA series, so it’s no surprise that it’s back here in full force. The main characters will be constantly ordered around by corrupt law enforcement agents parading self-serving actions under the guise of patriotism and devotion to their country.

Badges?

Online Community - 0

“Grand Theft Auto Online” is really a separate game from GTA V and would have to be considered separately. Since there is no multiplayer mode within GTA V itself, the online community is not a factor in this game.

Extreme Sports - 4

Extreme sports is a factor in certain missions and activities but is overall not significant. The only extreme sports related element that is included in all of the game is the player’s ability to drive at insane speeds on busy streets, ignoring all traffic laws. If a player is skilled enough, they can drive well over a hundred miles per hour on surface streets.

There are a number of race events in which the player can participate. The jet ski races and offroad races are predictable, relatively safe, and almost completely removed from random civilians. The street races, though, are dangerous and always through streets with random civilian cars. Crashing into innocent bystanders and innocent drivers is almost inevitable. It’s the kind of thing that could be done in real life relatively easily, but is extremely dangerous.

I would not advise this.

There are some missions that also involve other forms of extreme sports. Some missions will have the player parachute onto the top of a building or speed away from pursuing law enforcement agents. Most of these will be a brief section of the mission. But there is one side mission where the player will be taken in a helicopter high up in the air, jump out of the helicopter, land on a mountain below, and then ride a mountain bike down the entire mountain. Evidently it can be done in real life, but I’m not the kind of person who would recommend it.

Rainbow Six: Vegas.

Magic - 0

Magic is not a factor in this game.

Miscellaneous - 8

Interrogation As mentioned before in the Violence section, there is one mission that involves the player having to interrogate a random civilian for information about a suspected terrorist. The player will actively engage in different forms of torture in order to extract the information. It’s a brutal scene that will (and should) leave the player unnerved.

Assassination The player has the opportunity to complete a few assassination side missions. One of the characters, Lester, identifies a few corrupt business people that Franklin can kill. Aside from the cash that Franking gets from the mission, the player can have all of the main characters invest in stock from competing companies in order to make a ridiculous amount of profit (upwards of $2 billion depending on when the player performs the assassinations).

BOOM! Headshot!

Prostitution As with all of the other previous GTA games, prostitutes are included at random places at night. The player can hire these prostitutes and use their various services. However, unless the player knows how to pick up these women, it is entirely possible to miss them.

Language

Language is a serious factor in this game. There isn't a single conversation that doesn't include at least one swear word and most include a flurry of mature language. If the other factors weren't already as significant as they are, the amount of language in this game would give me serious pause before I could come up with an accurate recommended age. I can't point to a single specific instance where language was at its worst because it was always a major element. No matter what the character as feeling emotionally, and no matter which characters were involved in the conversation, everyone seemed to have some sort of explitive to shout at the most random of opportunities.

So the single player is definitely for young adults. A few questions about multi-player...
In multiplayer, how much violence, sex, drugs and abhorent behavior is shown - and what is certain to be experienced, likely and possible?
What is the worst of each of these areas a teen can see during multi-player?
Is there a review of multi-player on this site or that you can recommend?
Is there a way to exclude single player with a parental control?

Reply

Anonymous

7/31/2014 06:17:53 pm

Well, I don't know much, but I'd be glad to help out. I do know that fortunately in gta online, strippers aren't topless like they are in singleplayer, and while they still wear thongs and skimpy bras, nothing more than a thonged butt and some breast cleavage will be seen.

Reply

Jason Smith

3/22/2015 05:11:24 am

Can some players be rasist

Jason Smith

3/22/2015 05:10:19 am

Can some characters be racist ?

Reply

DiamondRain676

8/4/2015 12:02:39 am

A few of the characters are stereotypes,while others are simply racist.For example,it has been proven that if you play as Franklin (the black character),cops are more aggressive against you.This is a reference to how sometimes,cops tend to be harsher on minorities in California.

Hey Carmine, any chance that you can do a review for gta online? I've recently been thinking about getting gta v just for online but I'm not allowed to play gta as a whole. I do know that gta online is a bit toned down from single player, but I don't know what I should tell my dad about this because every time I mention the name Grand Theft Auto, my dad says no.

Reply

Declan

7/7/2015 08:20:05 pm

Minimum age 16!!! I would've given the minimum age 18+ and the recommended age 21+

Reply

Loden

11/28/2015 01:18:26 pm

21+?? is there really a difference between 18 and 21. pretty redundant.

Reply

Jerks

4/4/2016 09:32:37 pm

Why is this minimum age 16!? It should be minimum age 18 and recommended age 21. There is torture, very strong sexual content, high drug use, frequent language like c***, f***, s***, and many racial slurs. Also the themes of theft, murder, racism, sexism, torture etc.

Reply

Joel

4/8/2016 05:48:47 pm

My dad wouldn't let me play it when I'm 16.

Reply

Snowman

2/26/2017 06:13:29 am

18? Minimum age should be 12 and recommended age 14

Reply

Anonymous

1/15/2018 06:34:17 pm

Heck no recommend age 17.
This game is targeted toward a mature audience. GTA online however could be suitable for 13 year olds with a talk wit the ol parents about the content and understanding the difference between real life and video games and also how these things affect real people.

Reply

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